Sunday, 19 November 2017

Adapting a Lifelong Dream

This is one of my longest breaks between
blog posts during my nine years of blogging. For some weeks now I've been
feeling reluctant to dish out another opinion when the online world seems so
saturated with them. Even Twitter, which forced people to be concise, has upped
its word count from 140 to 280.

Not wanting to bore you with unenlightened views about things I'm no expert in, I took to doodling with sharpie pens instead. My new hobby explains my latest blog header which I fear makes me look like a kids'
author! (I'll bash out another one more in keeping with my novels at some point.)

Although I haven't been blogging,
I do write every day. The dream of making a living from writing did quietly
come true thanks in part to being a big fish (published, bilingual author) in a
small pond (Mallorca). I'm currently working on a What's On guide for
abcMallorca, which hopefully means I'll stop staring blankly at people when they ask me for recommendations on what to do on the island!

I was so eager to be published that
I accepted not being paid any money for the books upfront. I assumed I'd make
money because such a big company was bound to sell thousands. But the big publisher
did minimal marketing and low royalties meant that two years of work for two
books barely earned me enough to pay a month's rent.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results... So
this summer I published The Hen Party under my own brand Little Cactus. To date
the book has sold more in three months than my traditionally published books did in a year.

The experience proved
to me what I could achieve if I invested time and money into not only creating
a good book, but into advertising and promotion. A number of local publications
featured the The Hen Party and although it's difficult to get reviews, the ones so far
have been very positive. I have to thank all my readers who trust I can write and couldn't care less
who publishes my books!

Knowing I could succeed
independently made me desperate to recuperate my rights for my other novels,
The Temp and #PleaseRetweet, and relaunch them with better covers, and in the
case of The Temp, with the original title Spray Painted Bananas, which was so successful on Wattpad.

For a time it
looked like the publisher weren't going to give me my rights back. As long as the
books made 100 pounds a year they could keep them. Rarely have I felt so furious. I would find
myself awake in the early hours composing angry emails. How dare they prevent
me from earning a living from books that I had worked so hard on?

That rage has since passed. I
said what needed to be said. Next April, I'll get my rights back for both novels
and I will release them with new branding and covers that more faithfully reflect
my style of writing and myself as an author.

It has been a period of limbo...
but I'm finally coming out the other side. I could write a letter to my younger
self advising her not to be blinded by the traditional dream, but in the end
I know I would do it all again, because my dream was so strong.

If I don't make The Sunday Times
Bestseller list, win a literary award, or have my books in Waterstones, then so
be it. What matters to me now has become quite simple. I want to write great books
which satisfy my readers, earn a decent wage for my work and enjoy the creative process from beginning to end.